Lange was last seen on the West End stage in 2000 in O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, a performance that earned her an Olivier nomination. The Hollywood star's London debut came with the 1996 transfer from Broadway of Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, in which she played Blanche du Bois. Lange's film credits include "The Postman Always Rings Twice"; "Tootsie," for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar; and, more recently, Tim Burton's "Big Fish" and "Don't Come Knocking," written and directed by her partner, actor/playwright Sam Shepard. Lange also won a 1996 Best Actress Oscar for her performance in "Blue Sky."

Joining Lange onstage in The Glass Menagerie are Ed Stoppard, son of playwright Tom, Amanda Hale and Mark Umbers.

Stoppard's most notable stage performance was in last year's English Touring Theatre production of Hamlet where he played the title role.

Hale's stage credits include The Importance of Being Ernest and Crooked. Umbers has appeared in The Pirates of Penzance at the Open Air Theatre, My Fair Lady and The Vortex.

Set in St. Louis in the 1930s, The Glass Menagerie is a thinly disguised account of the playwright's own family. Amanda (Lange) is a Southern belle mother who drives her son Tom further way every time she talks about her oh-so-elegant youth; and drives her crippled daughter, Laura, deeper into herself with every urgent demand for her to be sociable.

The production follows the recent truncated run of Williams' rarely performed Summer and Smoke starring Rosamund Pike and Chris Carmack.

For more on The Glass Menagerie, which is booking until May 19, call (0)870 890 1101.